School calendar altered

Clinton City Schools students, teachers and other employees will not have to make up all of the school days that were lost as a result of Hurricane Matthew.

School officials announced Friday morning that students will now not have to make up some of the days after the state’s General Assembly included in its disaster relief bill that students and school employees only have to make up two of the days schools were closed due to storm damage.

Locally, students were absent from school Oct. 10-14, after Matthew dropped inches of rain, causing roads to flood and washout. Direct school routes were affected, leaving school officials making the decision to cancel school for the five days.

Monday, Oct. 31, which was originally scheduled to be a workday for Clinton City Schools staff, served as the first make-up day. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, Nov. 23, was a regular school day for students and staff. Students were originally supposed to be released early on Dec. 21, but that will now remain as a full instructional day.

Students were also scheduled to attend school Thursday, Dec. 22 and Jan. 7, a Saturday, but now due to the state’s decision, students do not have to attend on these two dates.

“After reading the law and consulting with the school board, the decision was made to remove those two days from the make-up schedule,” CCS superintendent Dr. Stuart Blount said.

The decision to set the make-up days was made with student success in mind.

“The unexpected break due to Hurricane Matthew resulted in five days of instruction being lost,” Blount said when the announcement of make-up days was originally made in October. “This most certainly has the potential to impact student learning. The greatest impact of this would be felt at the high school level. Our high school students will be taking final exams in mid-January and not making up the lost instructional days would place our students in an unfair situation with regard to final exam preparation.”

Sampson County Schools

In regards to students in the county school system, Susan Warren, public relations specialist for SCS, said administration was looking into the options and what each means for the staff and students. A decision about the remaining make-up days had yet to be determined at press time.

The board similarly approved a revised calendar due to Hurricane Matthew and lost instructional time back in October. At that time, according to school officials, three days of instructional time were banked for cancelled school days. Since Nov. 9, 10 minutes of instructional time had been added to the school days, allowing for three more days of stored time.

Sampson County Schools missed a full eight days due to the storm. Two make-up days, Monday, Jan. 2, and Tuesday, Jan. 17, could be changed once the board meets. Students and parents will be notified as soon as the board makes a decision.